Pleads for special category status to AP
Financial assistance for building capital
New Delhi: YSRCP president and Opposition leader in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday appealed to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to honour the various provisions mentioned in the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 from building the state capital to granting Special category status.

He brought to the notice of Rajnath Singh the injustices meted out to Andhra Pradesh as a result of bifurcation.

He cited the loss of IT industry, capital city like Hyderabad, higher educational institutions, and healthcare facilities and urged him to see that the budgetary allocations were made for the development of the State.

He also brought to the attention of Rajnath Singh that the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu government was forcing the farmers to part with fertile farm lands on which multi-crops were grown under the guise of building capital city. It would deprive farmers of their livelihood. The recent mobilisation of police forces of the two Telugu states at Nagarjunasagar Dam was also brought to the attention of the Union Home Minister. The YSRCP leader said the Telugu states had not been able to come to an agreement over water-sharing of rivers and in conducting EAMCET.

It was the third time in eight months that the YSRCP was urging the Centre to grant ‘special status’ to Andhra Pradesh, and was also demanding financial package to the backwards regions of Rayalaseema and north costal Andhra Pradesh. Jaganmohan Reddy was accompanied by three of his party MPs.

He said his party would continue to do its duty in seeking financial assistance from the Centre in the coming days leading up to the Budget Session of the Parliament. The issues the YSRCP brought to the notice of the Centre include: As per the provisions of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014, to provide financial incentives on the lines given to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for industrial promotion.

The 13th schedule of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 includes setting up of a steel plant at Kadapa, Petrochemicals complex at Visakhapatnam; upgradation of the existing airports in Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam to international standards, Metro rail in Visakhapatnam; Metropolitan Development Authority in Guntur-Tenali-Vijaywada, and to develop industrial corridor along Chennai-Visakapatnam, and these should be addressed.

The YSRCP also urged the centre to complete NTPC-BHEL Mannavaram Project in Chittoor district and to fill the resource gap in the 2014-15 budget. It has appealed to the Central government to declare Polavaram as a national project as mentioned in the Act and to ensure its completion in four years.

It sought allocation of Rs 10,000 crore in the Union Budget for the project.
It also urged the Centre to allocate Rs 5,000 crore for the State capital in the ensuing budget.